British Grand Prix – Race Results: P5

Nico Rosberg fended off Mark Webber to win a thrilling British Grand Prix littered with tyre blow-outs and featuring a late retirement for championship leader Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg’s Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was leading until he became the first man to suffer a tyre blow, with Vettel then controlling the race until his Red Bull lost drive in the closing stages.

That set up a thrilling finale as Vettel’s team-mate Webber, who had fallen to 15th on lap one, hunted down Rosberg, while Fernando Alonso and the recovering Hamilton charged past Kimi Raikkonen into third and fourth.

@SkySportsF1Interesting comments from Kimi just now. “Absolutely wrong call not to pit behind the second safety car, not my fault” Clearly unhappy

KR: I asked the team during the SC if I can come to the pitstop. We had over half a lap to make a decision about it. There are ten people sitting and staring at all kinds of monitors. I can’t understand how they could make such a wrong decision. I lost an easy 2nd position right there. I have to ask the team why they did it. That’s why it bugs me so much. I would had come in earlier myself, but somehow you still believe that people who’s work it is to make these decisions would do right decisions. But what can you do. It bugs to lose so many important points because of something like this.”

Kimi Raikkonen – 5th: “I tried to hold on at the end of the race, but with tyres that were maybe twenty laps older than the others’ it was impossible to keep them behind. It’s a shame as the race went pretty well until then; we had good pace and looked set for a pretty easy P2, but this is racing sometimes. It’s three races now where we haven’t had the result we maybe expect, but hopefully if we can have a bit more luck and also get rid of some of the mistakes we’ll be able to get back to the front.”

Romain Grosjean – 19th: “Towards the end of the race we lost quite a big part of the front wing meaning it became really difficult to drive, so in the end it was best to retire because of safety considerations. We don’t know if it was caused by some debris or something to do with the fact that it was a new part; we will be working to find out the root of the problem. Before that my race wasn’t going quite to plan and we were suffering with tyre performance. This was related to the front wing issue which started earlier in the race. The safety cars didn’t really go our way either so it’s a race I’d rather forget. Let’s go to Germany and have a better weekend.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: “The outcome of the race isn’t rewarding with the amount of work that has been done by the team recently. Most of the upgrades we brought here seem to be working which is a positive sign, although we did struggle a bit in qualifying to generate good grip from the tyres. Our strategy was great today until the last safety car when we should have called Kimi in to save at least one position and make the podium. Unfortunately, we made the wrong call for which we apologise to Kimi and to the team. This sometimes happens and it isn’t easy to manage when you have so many safety car periods. We will be in Germany in a few days’ time where we’re confident we will be competitive and aiming to make amends.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We have mixed feelings today. We made some good places up during the race but in hindsight, we should have pitted Kimi at the final safety car. It wasn’t obvious at the time, but the benefit of hindsight is always enlightening. Romain had a front wing failure near the end of the race, the cause of which we don’t know yet. We weren’t affected by the tyres issues that we have seen today but warned our drivers to stay clear of the kerb at Turn 4 as there was a suspicion it might be the cause. Despite not being as good as it could have been, it was a better weekend for us than the last two. Further upgrades we have coming for Germany mean we fight on.”

8 responses

It’s high-time Lotus hire someone with a brain. The technical team is a disgrace. Has never made wise decisions in Kimi’s favour. And Mr. Eric Boulier FFS,it’s time you smack your head against a boulder.

With hindsight it was the bad call but i can understand that at that time they took the risk not to pit. It was too tempting. I thought that the cars between Kimi n Webber would resist slightly better but it wasn’t enough. So sad that Kimi didn’t get that podium, he deserved it, more than Alonso, Kimi was really brillant today, Vettel should had parked his car at a safer place n there would have been no SC. I was so scared when Kimi was wheel to wheel with Webber in Copse corner, it was masterful drive from both drivers, hope someone shows the footage to Perez. At least Kimi come out of the race safe n sound as i was very much concerned with the safety due to these tyres. Some debris from Vergne’s car hit his helmet, it could have been really dramatic. Really proud of Kimi today, a shame that Lotus let Grosjean fight with Kimi, they should be smarter n Grosjean too. I’m fed with Villeneuve comments.

OMG just read what kimi said about the bad call, i thought both Kimi n the team took the decision not to pit but its not a surprise, Lotus rarely get the strategy right, they should had call him in when the SC wasn’t yer deployed like Ferrari did with Alonso, that was the perfect timing. Hope we get a good explanation from Boullier.

Still the same comments, Kimi n his manager has always spread a lot of rumour during his career just to have top salary. He pretends that Kimi will wait to take a decision concerning his cntract next year just to get a very good salary.He’s always trying to minimise Kimi’s excellent performance. In his view Kimi is largely overestimated, i dn’t knw if he really believes that but clearly he has a problem with Kimi. When the E21 is struggling its always Kimi’s fault blabla, meanwhile when Kimi is battling in front he highlightens the speed of the car. He was scandalised when Lotus told Romain ‘that Kimi is faster than u’, its as if he has never heard this kind of thing, at times its funny when he’s in ‘jealous mode’ but sometimes i’ll gladly ‘punch him in the face’ like Iceman said. At least Kimi set a new record today, hope that stays for a very lng time.

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Hello! Thanks for dropping by. Since the 2015 Italian GP I had decided to take a break away from this website because I can no longer take this sport seriously after Ferrari proved yet again how they consider Kimi as just a support driver for Vettel. It's a disgrace. Updates will continue on our Facebook and Twitter pages however, with a sometimes bitter and sarcastic tone as you'd expect from a heartbroken fan.
~ EvenstarSaima